New Primitivism: Today's Attacks on Reason and Individualism (MP3 download)

The stagnant oppressiveness of the medieval era was the result of a philosophy that inculcated a primitive mentality—a mentality that cowered before the forces of nature and that obediently followed the dictates of mystical authorities. It was eventually replaced by a new culture upholding a new philosophy: the efficacy of reason and the value of the individual.

Today, however—Mr. Schwartz argues—the medieval mentality is being resurrected. In the tribalism of multiculturalism, in the anti-science and anti-technology doctrines of environmentalism, in the overt mysticism of religion—we are now witnessing a return to primitivism. In this talk—based on his essays in Return of the Primitive—Mr. Schwartz examines the roots of this tragic phenomenon, and presents the case for a philosophy of reason, science, progress and capitalism.